The United States is planning to quickly develop two new missiles previously banned by a 30-year-old arms control treaty. America’s withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, sparked by allegations of Russian cheating, is paving the way for Washington to match Russian weapons with new missiles of its own. The U.S. will test the missiles as soon as this August, within days of the end of the treaty.

The two missile types, a ground-launched cruise missile and an intermediate-range ballistic missile, were previously banned by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. The INF Treaty, signed in 1987, banned land-based missiles with ranges from 310 to 3,420 miles.

Although the treaty itself didn’t ban actual nuclear weapons, it removed key nuclear delivery systems from the inventories of both the U.S. and U.S.S.R., dramatically lowering the number of nuclear weapons deployed in Europe. Continue reading →

Following the dramatic US withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) within the last month and amidst continuing tit-for-tat accusations between Moscow and Washington since then, which even appears to have imperiled the future of the New START treaty, Russia is aggressively touting its new nuclear cruise missile, the 9M730Burevestnik (or “Storm Petrel”), which Russian media reports say has entered the final stage of testing and development. Continue reading →

KRET, a developer of electronic equipment for the Russian military, will use information gained from studying a US Tomahawk cruise missile unexploded in Syria, to boost the capabilities of its own equipment.

Battle damage assessment image of Shayrat Airfield, Syria, is seen in this DigitalGlobe satellite image, released by the Pentagon following U.S. Tomahawk Land Attack Missile strikes from Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers, the USS Ross and USS Porter on April 7,… REUTERS

The U.S. cruise missile strike on a Syrian air base last week damaged or destroyed 20 percent of Syria’s operational aircraft, as well as fuel and ammunition sites and air defense capabilities, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Monday. Continue reading →

A US Air Force (USAF) programme to develop and field a new nuclear-capable Long-Range Stand-Off (LRSO) cruise missile has undergone a Pentagon review and appears poised to proceed to development soon. Continue reading →

The People’s Liberation Army Air Force deployed its H-6K bombers for deep-sea flight training last week. The H-6K has a combat radius of 3,500 kilometers, which currently meets the strategic requirement of “active defense.”

If China adopts US operational tactics to refuel in air twice during a mission, then the combat radius could be extended to 5,000 km, a bombing range that covers all of Asia and extends to Australia. Continue reading →

Move comes at pivotal time in nuclear talks; Israel has urged world powers to include missile program in negotiations

In a development significant both for its timing and its content, Iran unveiled on Sunday a new cruise missile that it claimed would extend the Islamic Republic’s range by 25 percent, placing locales as distant as Budapest, Warsaw, and Athens within striking distance.

The Iranian revelation, complete with videos of a missile launch, come amid Tehran’s negotiations with the six world powers over its nuclear program and infrastructure. Continue reading →

Three senior House Republican leaders wrote to President Obama two weeks ago warning that Moscow will deploy nuclear missiles and bombers armed with long-range air launched cruise missiles into occupied Ukrainian territory.

“Locating nuclear weapons on the sovereign territory of another state without its permission is a devious and cynical action,” states the letter signed by House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R., Calif.) and two subcommittee chairmen.

“It further positions Russian nuclear weapons closer to the heart of NATO, and it allows Russia to gain a military benefit from its seizure of Crimea, allowing Russia to profit from its action.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin in recent months “has escalated his use of nuclear threats to a level not seen since the Cold War,” they wrote. Continue reading →

WASHINGTON — Israel has determined that the Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah received an advanced Russian cruise missile.

Israeli sources said Hizbullah acquired the Russian-origin P-800 coastal defense system in 2013. The sources said components of the system were transferred to Hizbullah headquarters in Lebanon by the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, which received the anti-ship cruise missiles two years earlier.

“They don’t have the entire system, but they soon might have complete missiles,” a source said. Continue reading →

MOSCOW, October 8 (RIA Novosti) – Russia is to increase annual spending on nuclear weapons by more than 50 percent in the next three years, a parliamentary defense committee said Tuesday.

…

The draft federal budget provides for a 60 percent increase in overall national defense spending by 2016, according to the report, rising from 2.1 trillion rubles this year to 3.38 trillion rubles in 2016. Continue reading →

(JNS.org) Israel’s Navy has begun installing a new defense system on its missile boats that would protect them from the feared Yakhont Russian anti-ship missile, Israel Hayom reported.
A Russian anti-ship missile. Credit: Don S. Montgomery via Wikimedia Commons.

The Barak 8 medium-range missile is designed to intercept airborne threats, including enemy aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, anti-ship missiles and cruise missiles. “History has never seen ships capable of controlling territory as well as Israel’s Navy using the Barak 8 missile,” according to a source familiar with the weapon. Continue reading →